Propulsion units using lithium-water reactors have been proposed previously but problems have been encountered in the start up and maintenance of combustion. Earlier workers have sought to overcome these problems by spraying molten lithium into a combustion chamber at the same time that water is injected. This introduces complexity into the design of the motor.
The present invention arose in an attempt to provide a lithium-water reactor of simplified design which does not suffer from the above mentioned problems and which contains the lithium fuel in a discrete body within a combustion chamber.